So I tracked it down to this https://radzima.net/eng/miejsce/kalyskovka-347.html . Looks like it was a village that existed near Dolginovo.  

I used online image translation of his tombstone and there is no real information about him, just some torah sayings.

What frustrates me more than anything is that Dolginovo or otherwise, this is roughly the same region/county of Belarus.  All belonging to the Russian Empire.   JewishGen has Belarussian birth records, but none for these members of the family.
I have their names:  Kamenetsky/Kaminecki (Yakov, Hayim, Dveira) 
Birth dates: 1891 
Location:  Vileyka Region

Nothing comes up. At all. 
Is it possible that they simply were not registered and that is why the Belarus database contains nothing?


--
Arkady Kamenetsky

Marcy,

It is definitely not Vitebsk.  

It is this thing:  https://radzima.net/eng/miejsce/kalyskovka-347.html

I just have no idea what this means.  Looks like some kind of village/area, but it no longer exists.  However it is about 9 miles east of Dolginovo, precisely where the rest of the family lived/was born, etc.
--
Arkady Kamenetsky

This is one of a series of high-definition photographs obtained from town residents/for identification.
If you are able to recognize someone/please contact me privately using the 'Private' button below.

Location: Dieveniskes/Divenishok/Dziewieniszki/Jevenishok/Devenishki/Dzievianiski

Year: about 1928

 

Comments: front row from viewer’s left: unknown-A/unknown-B/Tsvi Hersh ROGOL (confirmed)/unknown-D/Basyeh RUDNIK (?); middle row from viewer’s left: unknown-E/Yakov BENYAKONSKI (confirmed)/Breyneh RUDNIK (confirmed)/Sholem ROSENBLUM (?); standing from viewer’s left: Avraham KARCHMER (confirmed)/Shlomo LEVINE (?)/ unknown-H/unknown-I/unknown-J/Bilkhe CHERSON (confirmed)); NB: Unknown A and Unknown I are believed to be siblings.

Adam Cherson

MORRISON, MULLER, OZER, PALLETZ, PALMANTER, PENN, PRENSKY, RABINOWITZ, RAMSAY, RAPHAEL, RAYBIN, RECKON, REINES, RIVESMAN, ROBBINS, RODER, ROSEN, ROSENBERG. ROSS, ROTHBERG, RUBENSTEIN, RUBIN, RUDBERG, RUDNITSKY, RUTBERG, SAGAN, SAGANSKI, SCHMIDT, SCHNITZER, SCHWED, SECONDHOUSE, SHOHAM, SHULMAN, SILVERMAN, SIMKO, SINDEROVSKY, SMITH, SOLKOFF, SOLOMON, SPIRT, STAMLER, STAUFFER, STREISAND, STROMBERG, TELENT, TILZER, TOW, VINSON, VURGAIT, WADLER, WAGNER, WEINSTOCK, WEITZMAN, WHITE, WHITMORE, WILLIAMS, WOLF, ZEIDMAN– California/Florida/ Massachusetts/ New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania/Texas/Australia/England/Ireland/Israel/Spain/Venezuela/Vilna/Svir/Lida/Voronova/Konvalishki

Arkady,

You can post a request to the discussion list asking for someone who can read Hebrew to translate the stone for you.

I tried to find Yakov Kamenetsky's passenger manifest, but could not, even using soundex search on both the first and surname.  I tried using Jacob instead of Yaakov.  He supposedly arrived in Seattle in 1937, according to: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kamenetsky-yaakov

I cannot find a manifest for his wife, Etta HELLER.

Quite a mystery!

Regards,

Sherri Bobish

Dear Arkady,

My maternal great-grandparents came from a shtetl in Vitebsk, Belarus called Kolyshki.  Sometimes it is called Kalisk.

Marcy Kalvelage

Sometimes, writers receive unexpected payoffs when their words spur readers into action. My article describes what happened when a cousin I never knew read my memoir, BECAUSE OF EVA: A Jewish Genealogical Journey. It's in the Fall 2020 issue of DOROT, Journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York.

LINK -

Susan J. Gordon
sjgwed@...

ZBARAZ, SKALAT, BUDAPEST, LVOV
Bialazurker, Lempert, Schoenhaut

I have been asked to give a presentation on doing Jewish Genealogy in
Belarus. Has anyone got any ideas besides Belarus Research Division,
FamilySearch and my handout from Yuri Dorn and a handout from the
Center for Jewish History. Anyone created a PowerPoint presentation
or an outline I can look at. Besides the Avotaynu Guide to Jewish
Genealogy are there any books specific to Belarus? I have a 250 book
Jewish Genealogy Library for the OCJGS organized on shelves in my
garage. I use the Library of Congress Classification.

Michelle Sandler MLS
Westminster, California
President
Vice President of Programming
Publicity
LIbrarian
OCJGS

Arkady,

I have provided you with two reliable sources of the village existence in the past, and yes it was located just 9 km distance from Krzemieniec. Krzemieniec is original Polish name of Ukrainian Kremenets, this is also identified in my previous reply. BTW, Kolosova is still there, and still in Kremenets region:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolosova,_Kremenets_Raion

Alexander Sharon
JGFF

A friend helped me find this place via an old website:  http://radzima.net/ru/map/kalyskovka-347.html

There is the link, but I am not sure what to make of it - or what to get out of it.  Still though, the place existed at one point  that much is clear.
--
Arkady Kamenetsky

The USHMM Registry of Holocaust Survivors is not available online for privacy reasons.  Please email resource-center@... to request a search for a name or for the names of survivors from particular places.

Megan Lewis, reference librarian
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

These are three photos from a series of high-definition photographs obtained from town residents/for identification.
If you are able to recognize someone/please contact me privately using the 'Private' button below.

Location: Vilna/Dieveniskes/Divenishok/Dziewieniszki/Jevenishok/Devenishki/Dzievianiski/Smorgon/Smarhon/Smorgonie/New York

Year: about 1928-30

Comment: The main focus of these three photos is a Reykhl of unknown maiden surname, married to a KOPELEV, LEVY, LEVINE (see middle postcard below): Reyhkl was a close friend of Blumeh (MOVSHOVITSH) BERKOVICH (BERK) in the Dieveniskes and then moved to Smarhon to marry. These are photos sent by Reykhl to Blumeh who was still in Divenishok and about to immigrate to New York. The writing on the back of the photos is translated and included below. The family is seeking to identify Reykhl's maiden surname and the surname of her husband as well as the two other friends in the third photo.

A) Portrait of Reykhl

Written on Reverse: “Smorgonie [1928] For memory to friend Bluma from Reykhl// Be well and live long and remember me always.”

NOTE: Reykhl had married in Smarhon and had moved there.

B)

This is the wedding of ‘Reykhl’ in Smorgon. From this we know that her married name is Reykhl Lev (or Kopelev/Levy/Levine/etc…)

reverse of this photo:



Translation Attempt (note there are two writers on the card, presumably the bride and groom):

“In the middle is me with the groom/around us parents and brother with sister-in-law. I'll do ...[couldn't decipher 2 words]. The others are not known [to you]. [2^nd writer] Dearest friend!  These were photographed on the day of the wedding. Number 1 is me.If you don't like me [how I look] I'll be very upset. The girls around - is like...[word cut off]. your friend Ch. [signature] Kopelev... [1^st writer again] The 3 children are Gitta Leah/Chaya Minke/brother and Emanuel[?? end cut off]  For memory to Blumele on the day of my wedding your friends R. and Sh. Lev”

C) Reykhl and friends in Dieveniskes

sitting viewer’s L to R: Unkown A; Breyneh Rudnik; standing viewer’s L to R: Reykhl; Unknown B (possibly a Rudnik cousin to Breyneh)

 

Written on reverse: “[writer 1 on reverse/in rhymes] Remember me at all times/even when you’ll be too far... for Blumele from Reykl. Smorgonie [1928] [writer 2 on same card] For memory to Blumele before her departure to America/Breyne” The family and I are also seeking to identify Unknown A and Unknown B from this photo, in addition to Reykhl's maiden surname.

Adam Cherson

ABRAMS, ABRAMSEN, ALEXANDER, ALPARD, APOLLON, ARONSON, CHERSON, BALTER, BARON, BASEN, BELIKOFF, BENSINGER, BENYA, BERMANN, BIMBLICH, BINAKONSKI, BLETZ, BRAUDE, BRAUR, BROCHSTEIN, BUELTEL, COHEN, DAVIS, DE SHIELDS, DARSKY, DOCTOR, DOLGINOFF, DRIZEN, ELKAN, ENOS, FAMILANT, FINKEL, FRASER, FRIEDMAN, FUQUA, GETZ, GLAZER, GOLDSETIN, GOLDWASSER, GOLDWATER, GORDON, GOULD, GRODINSKY, GROW, GUTKIN, HANZLIK, HATCHER, HOECHSTETTER, HOCHSTEIN, HORWITZ, JACOBS, JACKSON, KALMANS, KARP, KATZ, KOHLENBERG, KUPFER, LABOVITZ, LANZET, LASOF, LEININGER, LEVY, LEWIS, LIPMAN, LOUGHRAN, LUBETSKI, MATZ, MELMED, MIELZINER, MITTELSTAEDT, NELSON, MINK– California/Florida/ Massachusetts/ New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania/Texas/Australia/England/Ireland/Israel/Spain/Venezuela/Vilna/Svir/Lida/Voronova/Konvalishki

 

Stephen's suggestion is excellent.  As one of my heroes, Jessica Mitford, once said: "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty."  This is a situation in which one can do both.  
--
Erika Gottfried
Teaneck, New Jersey

Others have answered your main questions excellently and in detail.  To those answers let me add an observation and a question: "Chicago" appears on this index card.  What might this mean? If it has any significance it might open up a fruitful direction for research.
--
Erika Gottfried
Teaneck, New Jersey

Nicholas -  were your great grandparents from Grodno and that is why you looked there?  Or does Grodno have records from many cities in Belarus?  I have some relatives that were from near Minsk, a town known as Uzlyany, and I am wondering where to search.
Alan Moskowitz

Ellen,

Yes those online sources come from exactly one man, his son Nosson.  They are just copied from one place to the next - and even the spelling changes from book to book.  Which is utterly confusing.
Book about his father spells it Kalushkove (he contributed the research) and the Godol book written by Nosson spells it Kaliskovkeh.

it also does not help that we are all Kamenetsky and yet several times he mentions the family circa 1890 as Kamenecki...I have no idea when it changed, but clearly in the 20th century at some point they all became Kamenetsky.



--
Arkady Kamenetsky

On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 11:03 AM, Alexander Sharon wrote:

Kołosów

Alexander, 

Interesting so this town no longer exists?  Ellen who replied to this thread is not aware of any such thing in Kremenets district - I assume this is the same Kremenets?
 
--
Arkady Kamenetsky

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 06:38 AM, <ryabinkym@...> wrote:

Kalinkovichi

That seems unlikely due to distance.  Way too far from Dolginovo.  My family seemed to travel between Kaliskovkeh and Dolginovo with great ease around 1900 - even getting to Minsk was a great ordeal.
 
--
Arkady Kamenetsky